Anthony Gonzalez's French accent is hardly noticeable in song, but his foreign origins shone brightly during his first address to the audience Sunday night at the Hollywood Bowl.

“We are so excited and nervous,” he exclaimed, “and we’ve got a ton of surprises for you and a ton of special guests.”

His accent made that sentence less fluid than it reads, though it was accompanied by a beaming grin that probably outdid any Emmy winners’ smiles earlier in the evening just down the road.

Gonzalez basked in the moment, proud of where his career had taken him – and it was hard not to be on his side throughout the performance, which was backed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, conducted this night by Joe Trapanese, M83's collaborator on the recent score for Oblivion.

All things considered, it was a night for him to remember fondly. From an audience perspective, however, it was a little more complicated.

The takeaway from M83’s 90-minute set depended greatly on whether you had seen the band before. If you’re a fan living in Southern California who still hadn’t seen the group touring behind Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, its critical darling and commercial breakthrough, you must be pretty busy or tight on cash. Since that album’s 2011 release, M83 has played KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas, Coachella and FYF Fest, plus headlined shows at L.A.’s Club Nokia, the Fox Theater in Pomona and the Fonda in Hollywood. During the first few songs, “Reunion” and “We Own the Night” following “Intro,” it was hard for any acquainted admirer not to think he had seen this all before.

Of course, there was also the orchestra behind the five-piece band. But on some songs, like “Reunion” and later the soaring “Steve McQueen,” the orchestra seemed to sit out; at other times they could hardly be heard at all. M83 came across at an abnormally high volume, and considering how its music already employs synthesized orchestration, it was hard to make out what exactly was coming from the real symphony, apart from the choir that added drama to one the evening’s highlights, “Wait.”

Then there were the videos, presumably created for this event, as they weren’t present at Coachella or FYF. Instrumental tracks were accompanied with short films on screens usually used to project images of the band to the back of the Bowl, the opening clip showcasing a man and a woman staring creepily at the crowd, breathing out smoke in slow motion and eventually making out.

A later video depicted a glowing triangle in a field that eventually wound up being taken by someone into a stable. Another depicted a child walking through a post-apocalyptic world juxtaposed with an insane vagrant walking the same terrain, both meeting gruesome ends (one by wolves) while a meteor seems to strike our planet. It was all very half-baked, often cheesy in its production, and proved a tremendous distraction from the music’s atmosphere.

The special guests were, like the entirety of this experience, more special for Gonzalez than for the casual fan. First was Medicine’s Brad Laner, and opening the encore to perform “Oblivion” was Susanne Sundfør, the Norwegian singer who appears on M83’s score.

More memorable was an appearance from Gonzalez’s “favorite kid in the world,” Zelly Meldal-Johnson. The little girl walked confidently to a half-sized microphone stand as M83 began the springy backing to “Raconte – moi une histoire,” a first for the band.

Meldal-Johnson hit a home run with her trippy story about a frog, and then marched around the stage to dance near each player, unfazed by thousands of eyes watching her. (Her natural ease was likely helped by the presence on stage of her father, M83 producer and multi-instrumentalist for this show Justin Meldal-Johnson, best known for his bass work with Beck and Nine Inch Nails.) You worried she’d make a mistake and ruin her childhood in some way, and when she didn’t you were elated for her.

That same feeling of relief and joy spread to the entire ensemble by night’s end, when the crowd’s response grew stronger and critical flaws seemed to stop weighing down enjoyment of the event. M83 may have conquered the challenge of playing a place as auspicious as the Hollywood Bowl, but the test of successfully combining live orchestration with their booming sound still remains.

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